Improvement in tool-handle fasteners



PATENT QFFIGE.

JAMES G. WILBUR AND HIRAM H. HURLBUT, OF KILBOURNE CITY, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOOL-HANDLE FASTENERS.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,807, dated October 10,` 1871; antedated October 3, 1871.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES G. WILBUR and HIRAM H. HURLBUT, of Kilbonrne City, in the county of Columbiaand State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tool- Handle Fasteners, and we do hereby declare that the followin gis a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in method of fastening' the handles in axes, hammers, and all similar tools or implements; and consists in the employment of a metallic key with its side or one or more of its angles ragged or bearded, and applied as hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying' drawing, .Figure l is an end view of an ax with the handle fastened according' to our invention. Fig. 2 is a section of Fig. l taken on the line :c x.

Similar letters of reference indicate eorresp onding parts.

A is the ax. B is the handle, and C is the key by which the handle is fastened in the eye of the ax. The handle is fitted to the front portion of the eye, as in ordinary cases, but is reduced in width and left with a ilat edg'e for contact with the iiat edge of the key C. The key is fitted to the back portion of the eye and is of a suflicient width to lill the wedgeshaped space left between the handle and the back of the eye. The key is made of iron or any other suitable metal, and its tlat side, which comes in contact with thehandle,

is ragged or bearded by starting up portions of the metal with a sharp punch or cold chisel, thus forming teeth, as seen at d. When the key is driven, as seen in Fig. 2, the beards or teeth cl penetrate the wood of the handle, or create s0 much friction that the handle cannot be Withdrawn unless the key is driven out. This is easily done with a hammer or hammer and punch.

The advantages are that the ax, hammer, or other tool or implement to which the improved key is applied,is securely fastened to the handle by the bearded key, so that there is no danger of its flying off when in use. Whenever either the handle or the tool (ax, hammer, &c.,) fails, the handle is removed Without injuring it, if the tool fails, and without injuring the tool if the handle fails, as by the present mode of fastening the handle has to be burned out of the aX, which of course destroys the handle, and frequently destroys the temper of the ax. The key is ragged or bearded, so that it shall hold the handle firmly in the eye.

Having thus described our invention, We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent* A metallic key, C, having anv oblique side provided with reversely-obliqued barbs d thereon, for the purpose of allowing the elastic fiber of a wooden helve to return, after lateral compression, over the shoulders of said barbs and thereby prevent the wedge from working out.

' JAMES G. WILBUR. l

HIRAM H. HURLBUT. Witnesses:

J. JACKSON BROWN,

It. G. HILL. (29) 

